Can’t decide if this is a good thing or a *snore* thing.
On the plus side:
- The temperature will be nice for early March for all of us in the snow belt.
- There aren’t any other major shows happening at the same time.
On the other hand:
- Jacksonville is not exactly a hotbed of high-end audio enthusiasts – I mean, I think they have electricity and all but…
- It is also far from Orlando (Disney World) and Miami (numerous and wealthy people)
- Stereophile shows are typically expensive to show at – this when RMAF, Montreal and T.H.E. Show (and hence CES) are all about keeping prices down. AND, of course, the economy is still on shaky legs
- It is still only 2 months after CES – I don’t know about anyone else – but it takes awhile to recover from that particular show. A lot of people feel RMAF and CES are too close together, and that is a 3 month gap.
- some of us are freaking busy, and a show takes a lot of preparation, expense, and energy to exhibit at – which means some other area of the business is going to be shortchanged during the four weeks or so it takes to do one of these. This *IS* one of the busiest times of the year for the high-end audio business
But then again:
- It is better than Jacksonville in July.
Last year, Stereophile was ‘sponsoring’ the Montreal Show. What happened to that? Perhaps it not being in the U.S. was an issue?
I guess the primary disconnect I see is holding an expensive show in an area of the country just not known for their extravagant lifestyle.
If possible we will cover the show in Spintricity – but I’d much rather see Stereophile support, say, Lone Star Audio Fest, move it to March, which is in another warm state but where people are known to be passionate [and sometimes even about high-end audio :-)]. Or Chicago. Or San Francisco. Or New York City.
People talk about shows drawing attendance from the local population… but they, in my mind, typically rely heavily on the energy being provided by out-of-towners. If that is true, then the out-of-towners might like to have other things to do in the city. Makes boring-ass Denver [hey, we live here] a bad choice, and right by the L.A. Airport not so good either. But Las Vegas and Manhattan are great. Then again, audiophiles willing to fly to a show probably only care about high-end audio and wouldn’t care if the show were held in Juno Alaska on New Years Eve.
Anyway, at least they are not holding it on a Sunday during the football playoffs 😉
